From the Adventures of Sam and his Magic Pocket
Book Four: The Wishing Star
Written by Nicholas
Illustrations by Lawrence Stokes and Susie Day
Contents
Meredith
My story begins at the site of an ancient ruin consisting of thirteen great stones. They stood in a circle, towering toward the night sky. It seemed that you could never reach this part of the country before nightfall, and no one could stay the entire night beneath their shadows. The stones shot up out of the earth like the gnarled fingers of an old hag's hand, clutching at the stars. There was a village or two in the vicinity but the local peasants stayed clear away from this accursed place.
It was night. The moon was just showing its face between two distant hills and casting a thin ray of misty white light across the ground. But, the stones stood erect in defiance of the moon's approach, blotting out its light and throwing giant silhouettes into the center of the temple grounds.
A group of silent figures huddled there, waiting for some anticipated event. These were no peasants. They were wizards and witches. To them, this Temple of the Standing Stones held the mysteries of life which had bonded their fellowship together throughout the centuries. They whispered furtively to each other while gnawing at their fingers and softy shuffling their feet.
The ground began to vibrate slightly and a pinpoint of bright blue light appeared about six feet in the air. Then the light grew and expanded until it suddenly burst into a huge blaze of orange and lavender, creating a fireball which exploded with a crack of thunder, shaking the ground. When the waiting crowd could see clearly once again, there stood Meredith, the mightiest of wizards. He was dressed lavishly with a thick, flowing robe which glowed and sparkled as he moved about. He wore a tall pointed cap which bent slightly near the top where there was a crease, and a bright red scarf wound around his neck.
"Greetings, my good friends, one and all! As I wrote you in a letter, I am about to embark upon another of my famous journeys into the unknown." Meredith paced back and forth as he talked. All eyes were glued to him and followed his movements faithfully as he strode about and waved his arms. "I was the one who discovered the twin stones of Meredith and Argus. (And I took the liberty of naming one of them after myself.) I was the great one who found the four paths around the earth and discovered the seven wonders of the wizards! Now, I plan on entering the Stone With No Name—the stone whose doorway no one has ever entered, to see what mysteries and adventures lay beyond."
An old and wizen man who was bent over with a crocked back stepped out of the crowd. He supported himself with a cane and hobbled and stumbled as he advanced. His neck was so twisted, he had to turn his head sideways in order to look up and see the face of Meredith. Gazing into his eyes, the old man spoke with a trembling voice, "Meredith, listen to reason. No one has entered, or even been able to open the door. Forbear this madness." Then his eyes lit up and his mouth set itself in a hard line. He continued, "If you enter that doorway, you will not return into this world for many long centuries. I have seen a vision and my visions never fail!"
"How can this happen? Am I to out live myself?" burst out Meredith. His eyes flared up and shone red. His lips quivered and his shoulders slouched just slightly, but it was enough for those crowded around him to notice and a sigh of relief went up from all. Then Meredith straightened his back and his mouth curved into a proud, broad smirk. "I will only live another fifty years if I can stay healthy. How is it that I will come out of this stone many centuries hence? Tell me, and then I will enter and take the chance."
Not waiting for an answer, he walked up to the Stone With No Name. As he stood in front of it and put his hand out to touch it, he looked up toward the rock's summit towering far above him. He swallowed hard and muttered the magic word which was supposed to open the passageway into the stone. Nothing happened. The crowd moved silently up to the stone, surrounding Meredith, but not too close, and waited. He repeated the magic word a second time, but no door appeared.
The other stones could all be entered in the following manner: while resting a hand on the stone, if someone would say the word, 'cosmos', a door would appear right in the face of the stone. Then it would open, revealing a passageway. After entering, the person would be transported through a void and reappear in a secret chamber far away—halfway around the world, in some cases. Inside this chamber, they would find a crystal or stone. There was a different chamber and stone at the end of each passageway, one passageway and door corresponding with each of the thirteen stones standing there in a circle. Each crystal was magical in a different way. If someone looked into the Stone of Meredith, they would know everything and see everything. It was the stone of knowledge. Its twin, the Stone of Argus could bestow the gift of having magical powers. What kind of magical gift awaited Meredith at the end of this passageway?
The crowd began to murmur as Meredith stepped back from the rock and raised his hands above him in the air. He appeared to drop something down his sleeve and flames instantly shot out, lighting up the entire temple grounds. With the flames, came a large hand. It was three feet long and just as wide. As he rested it against the stone and spoke the magic word, his voice sounded like hundreds of voices joined together in unison. "Cosmos!!!" he shouted.
The crowd covered their ears and fell to the ground. A roll of thunder could be heard in the distance as if in answer to his cry, and an old wooden door appeared on the Stone With No Name. Meredith's hand shrank to its normal size and he stepped back to wait. A little at a time, the door began to open, creaking on its old and corroded hinges. All eyes watched as the door slowly opened, revealing not a luminous passageway as the other stones had, but a dark and foreboding staircase leading down into utter blackness.
The steps crumbled to the touch and the ceiling was rotting and falling down in places. More than just darkness came out of that doorway. There was also a feeling of deadness—a magical void. You or I may not feel a thing, but to a wizard or witch the feeling of deadness would be acute. A place where no magic could exist would be akin to our being in a place with no air to breathe or food to eat.
Every wizard and witch there could sense this magical void which lay beyond and begged Meredith not to go in. With one purpose they stretched out their hands toward him, striving to draw him back with their wills from this mad adventure. The door began to close and Meredith jumped in just in time. Then the door snapped shut like an alligator's jaw. The crowd dispersed slowly and with sad hearts. The event was recorded in the Book of the Happenings of the Wizards. It was the year 1552. Meredith was the first one to enter this stone and he never came back in many long life times of men. Hence the new name of the rock: the Stone of No Return.